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Winning The Lottery Revisited

23K views 43 replies 39 participants last post by  DLONGLANDSCAPING 
#1 ·
Several years ago here on LawnSite I posed the question....

If you won the lottery last night - I'm talking millions - and let's just assume you want to stay in the lawn and landscape industry...and are willing to spend $1,000,000 on your business....

What would you do? What would you buy?

This was really interesting and fun the last time I asked this questions so let's see what you can come up with....

payup
 
#27 ·
I would sink that million ..or more.. into getting the best teamS that I could. First of all by evaluating them and making sure I hired only industrious people who truly loved building things, using their hands, plants, gardening, ..the good earth.. and the great outdoors. I would educate them (vids..fieldtrips, etc. ..whatever it took..), pay them very, very decent wages, and offer fair insurance coverage. They would love working for me. ..LOL.. I'd have people create for me a kick-butt website to include links to providers and become sort of a Wally-World of the business. Customers could link to provider sites to get ideas in mind for what they want ..types of sod ..plants ..hardscapes; etc. They could get a clue as to costs so they could lose that shell-shocked look they get when I give them an estimate. ..LOL.. ..Then I would turn the whole shebang over to someone I trusted ..sit back..put my feet up ..sip on a Red Stripe ..and gaze at nothing but the perfect vista of my own lovely backyard for a long, long time.
 
#29 ·
Well i always thought that I would put money into my business. How ever after getting back into music, i would not waste one dime on this arena. The low balling , high prices of fuel and people , who just do not pay on time . I would slip a way.... Here is where you would find me . The Berklee school of music in Boston finishing up my music work. Man i would write some country songs about the cut throat operations that go on in this business. My new C/D would be titled " no more yards to cut"some songs like let the fireman cut it for less, your a pita what more can i say.

Then go out on tour for about 8 months and play it up all over the country. Yep that's it just back to school and finish another degree, and just have fun.


SO I WOULD HAVE SOME THING TO DO THAT " I ":sleeping: ACTUALLY LIKE.
 
#30 ·
Don't play, so my odds are less than 0 of winning.
Ditto. Once in awhile some folks who really don't know me give me a lottery ticket, or other instrument of the lottery as a gift. Why? Because they haven't taken time to get to know me. Those tickets, stubs, or whatever they are called, are just put in the trash.

If I did get a $1M from some source as a gift, I sure wouldn't put it into the lawn service business. There are far too many other places to invest the money with a higher profit, and better longevity than the dead-end lawn service industry.
 
#33 ·
I would move to Hollywood and go green. Leed certified building, diesel trucks that run on veg oil, propane and veg oil mowers, organic hemp uniforms, all organic chemical operation, and charge a premium price for our green landscape services. Id call it Green Ups inc. "green from the ground up". I am suprised i have not already seen that. everything is going green, why not the industry that is supposed to be about the earth already. I am sure someone will do that, just a matter of time. Id have to hire a a hot chick to run it cause id be traveling the world with my family and friends for a year or two right off the rip with the lottery money
 
#34 ·
First I can " not me". I would have a trust agreement created, then with in it pay off all debt, every thing. The little business I would pass on to a buddy of mine , along with my equipment. Then i would make a stop at the BMW dealer and pick up my new X5 SUV , White with a Chocolate interior. Then over to guitar center and pick up 2 custom Gibsons Guitars and some other toys. The over to Sam Ash to pick up all the rest of the equipment that i want, for my new band. Fund my nephews college education at Berklee College of Music. Then call 3 other people and tell them i am ready for lessons. I would do about 20 hrs a week in private lessons and any kind of a rock week or fantasy camp that came a long I would go too also.Now at this time I would be going too berklee music on line for some of their programs. So you see that when i winn the lawns became a ting of the past , as a matter of fact my first C/D out would be titled " no more lawns" title cut no more lawns to mow, your check bounced, no i don'nt hand weed, bushes your crazy.Pay up or else.
 
#35 ·
I would give my business to the first struggling LCO I saw, then I would buy about 200 acres somewhere in the mountains, facing a national forest, so the view never changes, build a nice little cabin, and spend half the yr there, and the other half here.

I would make sizable deposits to my 2 kids trust funds too.
 
#38 ·
Ummmmmmm..................... I'd buy LawnSite.com, and live the good life !!:rolleyes:

Well, that may require more then the million, so I guess if I won a million ( which would be a million as this is tax free in Canada:canadaflag:) I'd build a large shop, c/w indoor parking for 10-20 mow 'n go trucks, with a separate mechanics area, nice offices, and a printing area, as I'd need to start printing many more flyer's & Coupons, so may as well do it in house. Hire staff to increase sales, and build it into a great business, that I can sell for 10 million in a few years. Then after that, I'd buy a truckload of that fluid film stuff, and give it to the Canada lawn guys, as they won't send it to us. I'd even buy a new shovel for that french/jersy BG dude :laugh:
Did I mention my private, blond, playmate secretary,? :rolleyes:
 
#39 ·
Well first off , when i do win I will not be wasting any more time being some eases yard dog,,,, nope not at all. Back in school out in Hollywood Ca. Finishing up my music interest. Then a nice house in a real gated community , with a guard also,,,and my own lawn dog to beat on Fridays,,,,,,,,,oooooooyea beating the dog on Fridays one of the many cuts of my newest C/D Titled no more lawns to cut.Now for my rides well lest see a black Z06 Corvette loaded,,,,,,,,,,, a nice ski boat tied rite up at the dock just off my house , yep that's rite unhooked and back at it " my house" and then just my pets too have around nothing steady as far as the opposite sex goes , na no time too waste, to much music too turn out. living the real life party like a rock star. behind the iron gate with no guest list at all, well nothing perament.
 
#41 ·
I would take the million for the biz and do this......use up to 5K to advertize and sell the biz. The rest of the 995K, I'd walk into Binions Horseshoe and put it all on one spin of the wheel. Black I think would be the color I'd bet on. After all, Id still have millions left. Correct? That money would be invested wisely. But for one night....I'm gonna live like a rock star or a fool depending on the outcome.
 
#42 ·
I agree with the others, pay off land, build big heated/ac in shop, multiple mowers, etc.

I would also contact bad boy "and several other mower companys" and have custom mower built with 120" cut, super air ride seat, ac, radio, weed eater attachments that swing out so I can trim in the a/c. I would limit my business to highway right of way's, state parks, schools, ball fields, etc with large open spots that I can enjoy the new found comfort of not owing a dime and riding in style. I could bid the big jobs competitive since I would be mowing debt free.
 
#43 ·
I would take care of the family first in-laws and all. Buy a house in everystate of the Mississippi Flyway including a place in Canada. Hunt the ducks from the beginning of the migration til the end.

I would also buy my wife whatever she wanted.

I would keep working though so I wouldnt turn into a lazy bum. With that much money I am sure I would have enough of my own work to do around the house.
 
#44 ·
With 2 million dollars. hmmmm . You would actually recieve around 1,400,000 after taxes. So i would put 1 million in a 5.6% CD with a monthly rollover and spend 40k on a new exmark 60" 34hp kawi zero turn, 2 new 48" turf tracers, redmax handhelds, stihl saws, then i would get two bobcat. t300 or s300 with the following attachments: Landscape rake, auger with 6"8"10"24" and 36" bits, trencher, stump grinder, tiller, forks, toothed bucket, grapple, concrete mixer, kage snowpusher.

I would buy a 24' goosenck 24k trailer and a new f550 with a 10' masons dump-80k
I would buy a piece of property for cheap(10 acres) and wait for my business to make the money to then invest in a shop when the times right.

Then when i am 40 and have 10 trucks and the million dollars i put in the bank when i was 18, is now close to 50 million i would retire.
 
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